another edition of why I love my customers

If you're been reading my blog for a while, you know that "why I love my customer" posts come from my custom orders.  I love to sell in stock pieces that I created with my own ideas, but I love to make the designs that my customers have come to life, too.  Over the last few years, I have tried designs, color combinations, and more that I never would have otherwise because of my customers.  These last few orders were no exception.

Some of you know that I got a couple custom orders from open house guests before I even had the open house.  Before that happened, I had a request for a custom size of my red/pink rock garden bracelet.

I am so happy that my rock garden line continues to do well.  I've sold versions of the first four color combinations and just released the newest color combination: neutral this week.

The first custom order I got for the open house was for two color gradation button charm bracelets.

 

Isn't this a cool effect?  I love the result, especially the black and white one.  It is really tough to find black buttons, especially in unique sizes or with unique details, but I may try to make another one of these at some point.

I shared photos of the bracelets with the customer before the open house.  She loved them and asked if I made button earrings.  After showing her examples of a few different designs that I make, sure ordered 4 pairs!

 

I loved making stacked button post earrings and enjoyed using these new color combinations.

As I now included beads in the vast majority of my button charm bracelets, I decided that it was time to start using them in my button dangle earrings, too.

I included these earrings are as a freebie with her order.  Aren't these little buttons so sweet?

The second custom order that I got was from my brother's girlfriend.  Do you remember her Star Wars pendant?  She loves it and wanted several more to give to her friends before they see the new Star Wars 3D movie.  Don't tell George Lucas.

Normally I attach my glass pendants to lobster clasps so they can be interchanged with any of my wrap pieces, charm bracelets, etc., but she just wanted these as pendants on chains so I left them with just the bail.

I included a little freebie, too.

I'd been thinking about my Star Wars pendant again recently before this even happened and had been brainstorming other fun pendant ideas for her in the future.  She loves The X-Files so I went with it.  So much for future gift ideas, right?  That's okay.  When I made the first Star Wars pendant for her, I printed it on regular paper.  This time I upgraded to card stock.  The result was definitely better, but I may try photo paper sometime instead.  I don't know how it would do with the glaze, but I think that the clarity would be even better. 

Have you been working on any custom orders lately?

Stay tuned tomorrow for a wrap up of the open house and what else I did in Chicago over the weekend.



And in unrelated news...

Amy of CopperDiem is having an amazing 3 pound bead giveaway on her blog right now!  If you love beads as much as I do, go check it out.

Where I linked up today:

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 2/10/2012.

the new line is up and some standard designs are back in stock

Last year I started making multiple versions of single designs, which makes it easier to re-list items.  During the last few months this has paid off, and I got a few popular listings up and running again pretty quickly.  Although no two pieces I make are exactly identical, I do like having some standard listings that sell well.  Here are some of the newest ones that are back in stock.

Now what we've all been waiting for:

The new herringbone wrap bracelet/necklace line and detachable charms are officially up and running!

Here are some of the first brand new listings.

Beaded Wrap Bracelet/Necklace - Purple - Detachable Love Charm

This is not a wrap bracelet but it is one of my new herringbone listings with a custom charm option.

Beaded Bracelet - Black - Detachable Sterling Silver Initials Charms

As suggested, I am listing a separate sterling silver chain in case people want to hang their charms/pendants on a chain and don't have one of their own or want to give a necklace set to someone, etc.

I listed three charm sets: custom initials, flowers, and leaves (surprise, right?).

Next up will be music and a heart set for Valentine's Day.  I have some bracelets in the works, too, including a couple pink bracelets to list for Valentine's Day.

Like most of my work, all of these new bracelets can be customized in different colors and lengths.  I can also work with you to make custom charms for just about any theme you can imagine.  I'm trying to keep my listing descriptions as concise as possible so my buyers don't get overwhelmed. But the possibilities are endless so don't hesitate to contact me.

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 1/6/11.

Are you interested in a $10 ad spot on my blog that will run for all of 2012?  Hop on over to my advertising page for more information.

600 Hearts and some sneak peaks

I reached a new milestone in my Etsy shop yesterday.

I am really excited about this because it took me 6 months to get to 400 and another 6 months to get to 500.  I reached 600 in just 4 months.  Even though hearts don't necessarily equal sales, my views and item hearts have been way up the last couple months.  I've also had consistent sales in my shop for 11 straight months now.  Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me get this far!

I finished working with purple this week and put together a few new charm bracelet mixes yesterday.

I got these shell beads back at Christmas.  I've known for quite a while that I wanted to use some of them to make a charm bracelet, but I'm finally getting around to putting that together.  I want to layer some of the beads like I did here.

I also have a new green mix, which is what I'll actually be making before the shell bracelet.  I never get tired of these colors!

While I was sifting through my greens, I found enough light sea green and spring/lime green to make button charm bracelets with each of these colors, too.

continued pink and a new leafy bracelet

I completed my custom order transaction last night. Nicole is going to give this charm bracelet to her niece for Christmas.

While I still had the pink and white mix, I made another charm bracelet. This one was for an old friend's birthday. She received it last week and is hopefully enjoying it.

Because I was still so into the pink and white, I made a new random links bracelet with it that I'll be listing sometime in the next week. For now, though, I listed my newest leafy bracelet which has a completely different look. It's called vibrant autumn.

For my next leafy bracelet, I will most likely repeat a color combination that I've already visited and sold. I'm thinking about either autumn with copper or purple/pink. As always, input is appreciated!

slow sales, purple and yellow

I finally wrapped up all of my sales. Unfortunately there haven't been any new ones. I'm trying not let it get me down. Hopefully there will be more soon, right?

I tried the button clasp idea that I was talking about a couple posts ago. Listings are going up soon! I also got on a purple kick and then a yellow kick this past week - so unlike me! I love pretty much all colors, but normally I favor turquoise, green, and red. I have my purple pieces listed:




Purple is so hard to photograph so the colors come out looking as rich as they do in person. The first picture shows the colors nicely, the second two don't really do the pieces justice. Hopefully they still give you a pretty good idea what they're like, though!

Yellow pieces and button clasp pieces will be coming soon. :)

trade

I received my button cuff from KreatedbyKelly today! She received her button bracelet in the mail earlier this week and left me wonderful feedback about it. Here's the cuff that I got. (This is one of the pictures from the listing. My wrist is smaller than that haha.)


I sewed an extra clasp button on it because it was a little big on me and now it fits perfectly. I love it! I also really like this cuff from her shop:


Kelly very generously included a small Ziplock in my package that is packed full of beautiful yellow, green, blue, and purple buttons! What a wonderful surprise! I know that they will be a great addition to my collection for the making of some beautiful button charm bracelets. I would also like to try using some bigger buttons as bracelet clasps, too. I have a number of bigger buttons from Kelly, as well as from my button order from kellwood and my vintage collection from my mom's stash (which includes buttons from one of my grandmas and one of my great-grandmas). I have seen some beautiful bracelets with button clasps like this one, but have not attempted it yet myself. I will be sure to post the results when I do. :)

I finally got the boutique consignment agreement in the mail at the very end of this week. I have business cards and jewelry tags now, and I put together a flier about myself. I'm just finishing up the pieces I'm going to send. I'm sending five - a button bracelet, a button charm bracelet, a right angle bangle, another right angle weave piece, and a peyote cuff. My goal is to have everything ready to send before Thanksgiving so I can get it in the mail before we head out of town for the holiday.

I finished Sarah's button necklace. She's waiting until her next pay check to purchase it. In the mean time, if anyone else is interested in a necklace, I'm happy to take more custom requests. I will most likely relist the item as such after she does purchase it.

I received my pendant from yjja123 this week. It is gorgeous! I strung it on a silver chain. I took a picture of myself wearing it a few days ago. I'm going to do a big picture upload later this weekend and will post it after that.

I'm featuring my button charm bracelets in this post:




And I'm posting two pictures of my newest button charm bracelet posting - a Christmas one: